Rants

Refusal of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Posted on: August 27th, 2014 by Jeff

I’m happy ALS charities are receiving a boost but they aren’t in my top 100 list of charitable causes. I’m all for curing diseases but diseases that take massive amounts of cash -if they will ever be cured at all- fall lower on my charity spectrum than ‘save this kid from dying right now, with far less money’.

My grandfather died of ALS so it’s not as if it’s not a concern nor is it something distant from me. That doesn’t change the fact that there are much more cost effective ways of doing good in the world.

I… Read the rest

Yahoo Travel Doesn’t Know From Night Markets

Posted on: August 23rd, 2014 by Jeff

Yesterday Yahoo Travel published an article on “top 10 night markets in the world”. It was clearly written by somebody who has never been to a night market, but that’s not really what bugs me about it. What does bug me is:

1. Yahoo did not get my permission to use my photo.

2. Tekka Centre is not a night market.

3. That is not a picture of Tekka. That’s a picture taken a block away, off Serangoon during Deepavali/Diwali.

Also, Tekka Centre smells like it looks, and it doesn’t look like fragrant jasmine.

… Read the rest

Astrology is a lie

Posted on: April 7th, 2014 by Jeff

I hate astrology. There are few things I hate more. That may seem a bit odd and petty but I mainly hate things that impact my life directly. I mean, I also hate slavery, and hunger and animal abuse but those things don’t pop up at social gatherings and call me “close minded”. In a real sense, I hate things that impact me more than things that don’t. It’s not that I think those things are more important in an overall sense but I’m this clothed hairless-monkey water monster that lives in California. I’m not some theoretical presence. In… Read the rest

Is Singapore miserable? A rebuttal to the BBC

Posted on: March 15th, 2014 by Jeff

Today I woke up to read a story about Singapore on The BBC. Charlotte Ashton asks, ‘Does Singapore deserve its ‘miserable’ tag?‘. I didn’t particularly care for it as it mainly consists of a complaint without ever attempting to get at the answer to the author’s question. I disliked it so much that I felt compelled to write the following critique.

Charlotte starts off by describing the lack of misery around her. She, a well off expat who associates with like minded and walleted… Read the rest